Candlelight 'Round The Heroes
by kathillards
Summary: After running away from his team, Jayden finds himself drawn to a little pizza parlor nearby. The people he meets there might just change his life, for better or for worse - Oneshot - Samurai/Jungle Fury - Jayden/Emily -


**Disclaimer: Saban owns PR. The idea of a Jungle Fury crossover belongs to Lily Hanson, who graciously let me borrow her idea.**

**Major spoilers for Test of the Leader, part I, though this is a "What if?" scenario that probably will not happen when the second part airs.**

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><p>The restaurant is bright in daytime, he knows, but when it gets late and everybody leaves, everything seems a whole lot darker. The only lights remaining are the candles on every table; a mere shadow can make him jump, and he's not normally jumpy. For the first time, he's beginning to realize just what a frightening world it is outside of the mansion.<p>

"Hey, kid, we're about to close down," says the waiter, a young man in his late teens or early twenties – certainly around Jayden's same age. "Are you running away from home or something? Is that why you're camped out in a pizza parlor?"

"Sort of," Jayden murmurs. "It's more complicated than that. I'm not some angsty teenager, promise."

"I can tell. You have the spirit of a fighter," the waiter remarks casually, and Jayden doesn't fail to notice how his eyes linger on his red shirt, as if there's something special – something _symbolic_ – about it. "But you're gonna have to fight somewhere else, I'm afraid."

Jayden drums his fingers on the table, not quite ready to leave. Something about this place seems familiar to him, as if it's sparking a kindred fire inside him – he feels like he should know this place, know this man, know this –

_Ranger._

His eyes widen. "Something on my shirt?" he tests, slowing his fingers' drumming, keeping an eye on every slight movement of the waiter. For the first time, he's noticing the red, bright red (same as him), shirt the waiter is wearing, the way his muscles flex at every jumping shadow, like a trained warrior, like someone with the _spirit of a fighter._

"Nah, I just like red," answers the waiter easily, but Jayden doesn't miss his eyes – dark and well-trained for the night – darting around curiously, examining him, judging him and perhaps not finding him entirely wanting. "Listen, kid, you've really got to go – "

"I can tell," Jayden plows forward with all the tact of Mike when he wins video games, feeling an undeniable urge to know, to understand just what is going on here and why he feels such a kinship with this virtual stranger who calls him 'kid'. "You're wearing a lot of red, too."

The waiter looks almost – _almost_ – puzzled. But Jayden knows "fake" when he sees it, and the waiter is hiding something – and Jayden's never liked leaving a mystery unsolved, so he's going to solve this one before the night ends. "Yeah. Favorite color. Why?"

He hesitates, then decides to take a leap of faith, remembering what Emily had told him once, back when she had first joined the team – _"How are you planning on saving the world without taking a chance here and there?"_. "My name is Jayden. I'm a Samurai."

The capitalization of _Samurai_ can practically be heard in his words.

"Great," drawls the waiter after a long, tense moment where brown eyes meet blue, and red and red clash in the still darkness of the restaurant where there's almost no movement. "My name is Casey. I'm a Kung Fu Master. Are we done playing this game?"

Jayden nearly chokes, because there it is, there's the answer he's been looking for, and he doesn't even bother to look around for eavesdroppers – there are none, thankfully, because the restaurant is empty – before speaking. "Casey? As in Casey Rhodes, Red Jungle Fury Ranger?"

There's an even longer silence.

"Yes," says Casey finally, brown eyes wide, seeming half-incredulous and half-vindicated, as if he had been wondering the same thing about Jayden – _are you a Power Ranger, do you fight to save the world, are you part of my legacy?_ –"How did you know? Are you – ?"

"I told you," Jayden murmurs, almost grinning up at his – predecessor, it must be. "I'm a Samurai."

Casey raises an eyebrow. "Ah, you're one of the new rangers, then? The – oh, let me guess – Red Samurai Ranger, is it?"

"Got it in one," Jayden laughs, and he begins to think that maybe running away from his team wasn't the _worst_ decision in the world.

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><p>He's quickly proven wrong.<p>

"Why don't you go amuse that poor girl sitting by herself over there?" Lily suggests one day while she's covering Casey's shift because he has to teach a class at the Academy. "She's the only customer in here, and I'd hate to think she was lonely."

There's a sparkle in her eyes, a distinctly _Yellow_ sparkle that probably should have had him worried, but Jayden shrugs and decides to go with it – there hasn't been a nighlock attack in twenty-three hours, which must be some sort of record – so, in the spirit of celebrating that (and the fact that he's successfully avoided all his searching teammates for those twenty-three hours), he goes over to the young blond girl sitting there.

"Hey, I'm – " he begins to introduce himself, but she interrupts him calmly.

"Hi, Jayden."

It kind of feels like he's spent the last day building a house of cards that just came tumbling around him. Emily lifts her head, pulling off her sunglasses – yellow sunglasses, Lily's, by any chance? – and revealing her hazel gaze, bright with dusklight, that always has him melting.

"Emily," he breathes, hardly daring to believe that it's really her in flesh and blood, sitting in front of him, having _found_ him, but then, nobody else he knows has curls that soft or eyes that butterfly-inducing or a smile that pretty, so it must be her. "How did you – how'd you find me?"

She gestures for him to sit down across from her. "Lily's my cousin," she informs him. "I called her, and she mentioned you. It really wasn't all that hard. You should know how to avoid the world better than this, Jayden." Her tone of voice is teasing, but there's an undercurrent of sadness that kind of makes him want to crawl in a hole and die, because he knows it, clear as day, that he's _hurt_ her –

And he never wanted to do that.

"Em," he begins, and she raises an eyebrow, and he loses his train of thought. Instead of "I'm sorry," what comes out is, "I – uh – hi?" His thoughts are all jumbled up inside his brain, not only because she's _looking_ at him with her hazel eyes darkening under the dim candlelight, but because he doesn't know what she's going to do or say, and he doesn't like being faced with something unpredictable.

Emily tilts her head. He's never seen her so solemn; it's unnerving. But then, he supposes he deserves it. "Why did you run away?"

All the memories come rushing back. He clenches his fist and almost stands up, but the look in her eyes keeps him pinned to his seat. "I couldn't let you guys put yourselves in danger for me anymore," he murmurs. "This is my fight. When I fight Deker and that nighlock again, I'll do it my way. I don't want you guys to get hurt."

She sighs. "Do you not understand this, Jayden? We're your _team_. We're trained samurais, and we can handle a couple of monsters, all right? You shouldn't worry so much about us – "

"How can I not?" Jayden demands. "How can I not worry when you and Kevin are jumping in front of me, taking hits, getting injured – _for me_? I don't want you to do that. I don't want you to put yourselves in danger for me."

"You're our friend," she tells him, a passion in her voice that startles him a little. "That's what friends are for. That's what a _team_ is for. What kind of friends would we be if we let you fight battles on your own, Jayden? That's not how this works. We're friends, we're a team, and we protect each other. Sometimes we get banged up a little. That's in the job description."

"I don't want you to get banged up _for me_," he reiterates, feeling frustrated – there's no way she can understand, she's just – "You're just a country girl. How can you possibly understand what it's like to lead a team into danger?"

Emily frowns, hurt filling her eyes, and he mentally kicks himself – he probably hurts her more often than Mike does, and that's saying something (bad). "I'm a Samurai," she tells him, her voice light but her words harsh. "I'm a Ranger. I fight to save the world on a daily basis. Just because you're suddenly the one in the _most_ danger doesn't mean I'm not – and I know how to deal with danger. We all do."

He draws in a breath. "I don't want you to get hurt. Any of you – but especially you." The admission feels like a secret, like something that should have been kept contained to winds and candles at night, not blurted out in front of her, but it's too late to take the words back.

"Me?" she asks, blinking at him. "Why me? Is it – is it because I'm the youngest? Because I'm the _little sister_? Because I'm not as good a fighter as the rest of you? Jayden, for heaven's sake, I can defend myself just as well as the others can!"

"I know, but I can't help worrying about you!" Jayden explodes. "What am I supposed to do when you're confined to your bed because you took a hit for me? How do you think I feel knowing that you happily jumped in front of me to save my life at the risk of your own?"

"That's what friends do!" she cries, exasperated, now. Her gaze darts to the back of the restaurant, and he notices out of the corner of his eye that Lily and Theo and a returned Casey are all watching them with half-interested, half-thoughtful expressions on their faces.

"What do I have to do to make you understand that?" Emily sighs, bringing his attention back to her, one hand reaching across the table to take his and intertwine their fingers. "We're friends. We're a team. We work together. And we'll prove it at the next battle – where we _will_ be fighting right beside you, all right?"

Jayden shakes his head, trying to ignore how soft and warm her hand is in his and how the sensation of her thumb tracing circles in his palm is making butterflies whirl happily around in his stomach. "But, Emily, I – "

"You're so stubborn," she mutters affectionately, rolling her eyes. "Honestly, Jayden. We can – " Her voice breaks off abruptly, interrupted by a tiny roar that Jayden's all too used to hearing, and he'd be lying if he said the sound didn't bring a smile to his face.

"Is that my zord?" he asks her, an awed grin on his face when she smiles in return and affirmation. He'd realized a couple hours ago that he'd left Lion frolicking around the dojo before he'd run away, and he'd intended to call him back later with his Symbol Power.

"Yup," Emily beams, her mood lightened for an instant and her smile lighting up his world. "He was getting lonely, so I let him hitch a ride on my shoulder. I think he misses you. Actually, I know he does, because we all do."

Jayden swallows, reaching out with his free hand and brushing her blond curls out of the way so he could see her shoulder and, more importantly, the little red lion sitting there, looking at him with big, sad eyes that crumble every last bit of stubborn resolve inside him.

"Thanks," he murmurs, his thumb brushing the bare skin of her shoulder as he cups his hand so Lion can hop in, and his little zord does so eagerly, roaring away happily and dancing around in his palm. "I – I miss you, too." Noticing her raised eyebrow, he amends, "I mean, him. I mean, um, all of you."

Emily's smile brightens. "So you'll come home? And fight with us, like a real team?" She's guilt-tripping him, he knows, but with Lion prancing in his hand and Emily's smile taking his breath away, he finds that he really doesn't mind.

"Yeah," Jayden laughs, flashing her a smile. "I'm coming home."

"Yes!" cheers Lily from somewhere in the vincity behind them, then smiles sheepishly when both Samurai turn to stare at her. "Um, sorry," she mutters, unable to hide her grin. "We'll leave you two to your happy reunion, then."

Grabbing Casey and Theo's arms, she drags them away into the backroom of the restaurant, leaving Jayden alone with Emily – not that he minds, though, because she's smiling at him like he's just made all her dreams come true and there are butterflies blazing pathways of happiness inside him, and for a moment, with no nighlocks to worry about, everything seems all right.

"Thanks, Em," Jayden says again as she clambers out of the booth and reaches for her Samuraizer, probably to call the others. "And…I'm sorry."

Emily tilts her head and smiles, replacing her Samuraizer back in her pocket and touching his arm with her freed hand. "You're welcome," she murmurs. "That's what friends are for, right?"

He swallows. "Right." Because in the candlelight, she looks prettier than ever, with her fair curls spilling over her shoulders and her eyes hazelly-green in the reflection of the candles' flames, and she's smiling at him like she trusts him, like she _knows_ him, like she won't ever leave him no matter what he does, and he's never wanted anything more than to just lean down and –

She tastes like honeydew.

Maybe he'd been right, Jayden thinks dizzily as he pulls away from the kiss to smile at her. Maybe this whole running away thing hadn't been the worst decision of his life.

In fact, maybe it had been the best decision he'd ever made.

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><p><strong>AN: Wow, was that episode awesome or what? :D And did reading about their kiss make you smile as much as I did while writing it? I figured, there's no better way to finish my tenth fic than by finally letting Jayden and Emily kiss! :) I really hope you guys liked it, and if you did, please review and let me know what you thought! I'd really appreciate it!**

**Don't favorite without reviewing, please and thank you – it's very annoying.**


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